Robochicken
Robochicken was a series of competitor robots which fought in Series 4-7 of Robot Wars and the second series of Robot Wars Extreme. The first version appeared in Series 4, where it reached the second round despite sustaining heavy damage from Razer; however, it lost to Pussycat there after receiving even more damage from the latter. Later versions of Robochicken enjoyed mixed success after this, losing in the first round in Series 5-6, but jointly winning the Extreme 2 Tag Team Terror competition along with partner Bulldog Breed. The final version entered and reached the Heat Final in Series 7, where it lost to Dutch competitor Tough as Nails on a Judges' decision. Versions of Robochicken Robochicken (Series 4) The initial version of Robochicken was a two-wheeled, reverse wedge-shaped robot designed to resemble a chicken. Its weapons were a small front axe, referred to as the "poultry-powered pecker", which resembled a chicken's beak, decorated with eyes made from ballcocks and a crest made from a red rubber glove, as well as a large rear flipper , referred to as the "poultry flipping device", that resembled a tail feather. Both weapons were pneumatically powered. The original Robochicken was built using lots of parts from the team's previous machine, which failed to qualify for Series 3.Robochicken website - About Us. This version had 2 Electric wheelchair motors, a Vantec electronic speed controller, 24 v dc battery power, and a top speed of 8mph. Both Robochicken's shell and chassis were made from steel box section, sheet steel and aluminium, while the robot was painted yellow, red and silver with various stickers depicting the chicken's 'feathers' and nuclear hazard signs. The ground clearance was adjustable, between 1mm and 10mm.Robochicken website -Series 4. Robochicken-Evo In Series 5, the team entered an improved version of Robochicken called Robochicken-Evo, a 99kg machine which featured a more barrel-shaped body and a narrower rear flipping arm capable of lifting 100kg. The robot's colour scheme was also changed to yellow, black, silver and red. The robot was built from spring steel box section, stainless steel and hard faced aluminium. This version had the same voltage as the previous one, but now had 2 customised 4QD controllers, the wheelchair motors were replaced with 2 bosch 750w motors, and the top speed was increased to 15mph. The robot still had an adjustable ground clearance, between the same heights. Its official weakness on its statistics board stated that Robochicken-Evo "will not be taken seriously".Robochicken website -Series 5. Robochicken (Series 6/Extreme 2) For Series 6, Robochicken reverted to its original name, and adopted a more angular reverse-wedge design closer to its Series 4 incarnation as well as blood-shot eyes. Additionally, its paint scheme was plain yellow and red with missiles painted on its sides, which was changed to a more striking yellow, red and white colour scheme for its Extreme 2 Tag Team Terror appearance. The blood-shot eyes were also swapped with the regular ones for Extreme 2 onwards. Robochicken (Series 7) The Series 7 Robochicken abandoned the axe mechanism of its previous incarnations, instead having the chicken head and neck fixed on the top of the flipper so that it 'pecked' opponents when the flipper raised, in a similar fashion to the weapon of 8645T. As this modification still prevented the robot from self-righting, the team enabled the head assembly to be removed from the flipper to allow it to do so, with Robochicken once fighting in the Series 7 Annihilator in this state. Additionally, a vertical spinning disc was added beneath the axe head, which the Robochicken team referred to as the 'Rooster Rotavator'. The Team Team Robochicken was formed by Jason Snow, Alec Dick and Farren White, three friends who all worked in the Maintenance department of the same factory. Jason Snow was the team captain, and designed the electronics for Robochicken, Farren White was the vice captain and driver, and he built Robochicken along with Alec Dick, who did the artwork for the robot and controlled the weapons.Robochicken website - About Us. Farren White was not present in Series 6, and his place was filled by Tyler Booth. In every series bar Series 7, the team wore matching yellow caps with rubber gloves and large eyes on them, which matched the ones on the robot. Qualification The team had previously failed to qualify for Series 3 with a robot called Doomsday. Robochicken fought The Necromancer in the Series 4 qualifiers. The Necromancer's lifter had broken before the qualifier, so it could only push Robochicken around the arena, before The Necromancer suffered radio control issues and drove into the arena barriers, bending its front end. The match went to an audience vote, in favour for Robochicken, but the judges declared the battle as a draw. Ultimately, Robochicken qualified, while The Necromancer did not.Robochicken website -Series 4 At the Series 5 qualifiers, Robochicken-Evo fought Evolution. The winner of the battle is unknown, but both robots qualified, and Jason Snow later described the battle as the most memorable he ever fought in.The Necromancer website - The Necromancer vs RoboChicken. At the Series 6 qualifiers, Robochicken fought Tip-Top, who had been forced to withdraw from their original qualifier against King B Powerworks after breaking down before the battle. Tip-Top broke down very quickly in the battle, and subsequently failing to qualify, while Robochicken qualified.Report on the Sixth Wars Qualifiers from the archived Tip-Top website. To qualify for Series 7, Robochicken fought Direct Action, Dutch champions PulverizeR and Reptirron the Second. The winner is unknown, but Robochicken and Reptirron the Second both qualified. Robot History Series 4 Robochicken first fought in Heat B of the Fourth Wars, where it faced third seed and then-reigning World Champion Razer, and Series 3 Robotic Soccer finalist Velocirippa. It immediately tried to get underneath Razer with its flipper, but was promptly pushed and grabbed by Razer, thrusting its head and flipper in vain as the World Champions crushed through its side. Velocirippa rammed into Razer's side, and though Razer pushed Robochicken and tried to crushe into it again, Robochicken was able to turn away. Razer chased after Velocirippa, and despite Velocirippa being able to keep its distance from Razer initially due to its fast speed, Velocirippa turned around and drove into the front of Razer, which allowed Razer to grab it by the front spike. As Razer held Velocirippa, Robochicken flipped Velocirippa by the spike, lifting both opponents. Razer released Velocirippa, and turned its attentions back to Robochicken. Ignoring a couple of rams from Velocirippa, Razer crushed into Robochicken's wheel, then into its side, crushing through the baseplate and lifting Robochicken into the air. Robochicken fired the axe and flipper to try and free itself, but to no avail. Razer carried Robochicken towards the Flame Pit, holding it over it over the flames until Velocirippa rammed into the side of Razer, causing it to drop Robochicken. Robochicken continued to circle round the arena before having its front pierced through by Razer, with both robots being momentarily lifted off their wheels as Razer crushed down. Robochicken backed away from Razer, reversing close to Dead Metal's CPZ, with Razer following it. Dead Metal grabbed Robochicken and push it against a wall spike as Razer crushed into Velocirippa and pushed it onto a flame jet. Razer held it there, then let it go. Velocirippa shot forwards into the wall, but then became immobilised. Robochicken was pushed and grabbed once again by Razer before being attacked by Dead Metal a second time, but progressed to the second round anyway as Velocirippa was carried to the pit by Sir Killalot. In the second round, a fully-repaired Robochicken faced the nineteenth seed Pussycat. Both robots immediately charged at each other, with Pussycat trying to cut into the front of Robochicken, but didn't have its blade in the right position, and Robochicken reversed. Robochicken opened its flipper and turned so its flipper was facing Pussycat, and Pussycat got its blade under the flipper. Robochicken held Pussycat's blade and pushed its opponent back, but Pussycat managed to reverse, getting its blade out of the flipper. Robochicken tried to get its flipper under Pussycat, but mistimed its flip and missed. It turned around and tried flipping again, but did not have the flipper under Pussycat, so failed to flip. Pussycat drove at Robochicken, but rode up the side and over the top, flipping itself over. Pussycat managed to turn itself back the correct way up as it charged at Robochicken, but the blade was facing away from Robochicken and Pussycat drove straight onto the flipper. Robochicken flipped Pussycat onto its side, only for Pussycat to immediately get itself down. Robochicken tried to get the flipper under Pussycat again, with Pussycat reversing to avoid it. Pussycat turned, getting its blade to attack the side of Robochicken, but then Robochicken turned to get the flipper under its opponent and flipped it onto its side. Pussycat turned into Robochicken, the turned itself the right way up. Robochicken fired the axe at Pussycat, but missed, with one of the eyes hitting Pussycat's blade and being ripped off. Pussycat drove at Robochicken's flipper again, and Robochicken could only flick its opponent up a little. Pussycat attacked the sides of Robochicken where one of the wheels was, ripping away the armour and leaving that wheel exposed. It rode up the flipper, hit the other wheel guard with its disc, then reversed off before Robochicken could flip. Pussycat drove onto the flipper again, but this time Robochicken managed to flip it, leaving it standing upright. Pussycat quickly got itself down again, driving around the sides, cutting into them with the disc, and ripping up the metal on the flipper. Robochicken was only moving on one wheel, and Pussycat rammed into the front, getting the spinning disc caught in the armour. Pussycat forced Robochicken into the arena wall, and as it pushed against it, it lifted Robochicken onto its side. Robochicken could not move away from the wall, and Pussycat continued to tear into it. Pussycat pushed Robochicken into Sir Killalot. The House Robot pushed Robochicken away from the wall, but it could still not move, and Pussycat continued to attack. As Robochicken fired the "poultry-powered pecker", Sir Killalot knocked the remaining eye with its lance. Sir Killalot speared Robochicken with his lance and pushed it onto the floor flipper, where it was tossed. After being thrown a full 360 degrees over, Robochicken was axed by Shunt, and attacked by Pussycat as 'cease' was called. and was eliminated from the Fourth Wars. Despite this early exit, its performance and novelty design saw it being nominated for the 'Best Newcomer' and 'Most Original Entry' awards at the end of the series, which it lost to Tornado and Gemini respectively. Series 5 Robochicken-Evo competed in Heat H of the Fifth Wars, and faced newcomer Crushtacean in its first round battle. It started tentatively, lining its flipping arm under Crushtacean's side and flipping it onto its side before chasing it towards the Flame Pit. However, it missed its next few flips, allowing Crushtacean to push it against the wall and momentarily try to grab it before both robots spun and dodged interventions from Sergeant Bash. Robochicken-Evo tried to position its flipper again, but was grabbed and pushed side-on by Crushtacean before getting underneath the crab-shaped robot and pinning it with the flipper. Crushtacean escaped, however, and Sir Killalot dragged Robochicken-Evo by its head into his CPZ, crushing between its 'eyes' before letting it out. Robochicken-Evo recovered by flipping Crushtacean completely over, before Crushtacean shoved Robochicken-Evo into another CPZ where it was briefly pinned by Sgt. Bash. The two robots continued to spin and push each other around the arena, with Crushtacean grabbing hold of Robochicken-Evo's flipper at one point, before Robochicken-Evo pushed Crushtacean into Sir Killalot, who lifted and carried the latter with his jaws as time ran out. The battle went to a judges' decision, which went 2-1 in favour of Crushtacean, eliminating Robochicken-Evo from the Fifth Wars despite a strong performance. Series 6 In its first round melee in Heat B, Robochicken was drawn up against former Tag Team Terror runners-up in Spirit of Scorpion, former Series Semi-Finalists X-Terminator and newcomers Barbaric Response. In the battle, Robochicken started quite well by lifting Spirit of Scorpion up with its flipper several times, whilst also axing off all attacks from X-Terminator. Unfortunately, its aggression was all for nothing, as X-Terminator flipped Robochicken over with its axe, into the clutches of Dead Metal. The flipper of Robochicken was not powerful enough to allow it to self-right. Robochicken was left alone for a while, until Sir Killalot plucked Robochicken by the head and put it down into the pit of oblivion, along with an already pitted Barbaric Response. But Sir Killalot then decided to take it out and put it on the Drop Zone, where a washing machine fell on it. Robochicken survived that, as it was back onto its wheels, and as its motors were still working, the machine started spinning around on the spot after "Cease" had been called. The judges ruled that Spirit of Scorpion and Robochicken had been immobilised for too long, before Barbaric Response was pitted by X-Terminator. This meant that X-Terminator and Barbaric Response were put through to the second round, eliminating Robochicken from the competition in the first round again. Extreme 2 Robochicken partnered up with Bulldog Breed in the Tag Team Terror tournament in the second series of Extreme. The team were unfortunate to find that they would be fighting the reigning Tag Team Terror champions, Pussycat and Diotoir, in the first round. Robochicken did not have to do anything in this match; Bulldog Breed flipped Pussycat out of the arena almost straight away after flipping it around a few times, before flipping Diotoir over onto its back up against the arena side wall, before flipping Diotoir onto the flame pit. Bulldog Breed then finally decided to tag Robochicken, allowing them to then come out of the corner. Robochicken did nothing more than lifting and axing Diotoir on and off the flame pit, allowing Diotoir to catch fire for one last time. The Refbot then came in and counted out Diotoir, putting Robochicken and Bulldog Breed through to the Semi-Final round. At this stage of the competition, the chicken and the bulldog met previous Tag Team Terror finalists The Steel Avenger with their new partners Lightning. Once again, Robochicken stayed out of the action all together for most of this battle as well, only joining in when its partner Bulldog Breed had already finished off Lightning by flipping it over and pushed The Steel Avenger into the CPZ where it was lying in wait. Robochicken and Bulldog Breed both started flipping The Steel Avenger together, with Robochicken eventually flipping The Steel Avenger onto it back where it couldn't self-right. This rendered The Steel Avenger immobile, putting Bulldog Breed and Robochicken through to the final. In the Tag-Team Terror final, the duo went up against Hydra and Barbaric Response, Robochicken once again stayed in the corner while Bulldog Breed did the lion's share of the fighting. Hydra was flipped over, and unable to self-right straight away, and Barbaric Response was soon immobilised as well, so Robochicken pecked Barbaric Response's carcass a little, after Mr. Psycho had battered it for a while. In spite of its minimal contribution to the entire tournament, Robochicken had become one half of the new Tag Team Terror champions. Bulldog Breed celebrated overall victory by flipping the chicken robot over before cease was called. Series 7 Robochicken returned for the Seventh Wars with an improved flipper and a vertical spinning disc; however, the new head was mounted on the hinge of the flipper to act as an axe, so the robot was still unable to self-right. In its first round melee, Robochicken was drawn up against New Blood Competitors B.O.D., Dutch representatives Tough as Nails and former Annihilator champions Disc-O-Inferno. In this battle, Robochicken effortlessly withstood the blade of B.O.D. as the two competitors immediately collided, but Robochicken then scuttled away into the distance, as Tough as Nails activated the pit release button, and pitted Disc-O-Inferno. Robochicken suddenly demonstrated its power by effortlessly flipping B.O.D. clean over, in a desperate attempt to survive the melee, before Tough as Nails could pit them. After using the flipper to fight off Tough as Nails, Robochicken was eventually grabbed by the Dutch machine. Robochicken dug into the arena floor much better than Disc-O-Inferno did, and managed to keep away from the pit long enough to surpass B.O.D.'s countdown to elimination. 20 seconds after B.O.D. was counted out, Tough As Nails finally managed to pit Robochicken, but both robots had already qualified for the next round.. The second round battle for Robochicken saw it go up against Mega Morg. In this battle, Mega Morg's shape made it very difficult for Robochicken to flip; Mega Morg was also agile enough to escape any incoming Robochicken attack. However, the Welsh machine could not put its flipper to any use whatsoever. Eventually though, Robochicken scored an impressive knockout by flipping Mega Morg from the front, causing it to land flat on its back, meaning it could not roll back onto its wheels. Robochicken then hit the pit release button before Refbot counted out Mega Morg as Mr. Psycho hammered it. Mr. Psycho then carried Mega Morg over to the drop zone, where a washing machine was dropped on it. This convincing victory put Robochicken through to its heat final, where it was drawn up against Tough as Nails again. Robochicken had an explosive start to this battle, flipping Tough as Nails through the air several times. However, its efforts had little effect on the match, as it couldn't flip Tough as Nails out of the arena, nor immobilise it, since the Dutch machine was invertible. Later on in the fight, Robochicken lined Tough as Nails up against the arena side wall in a perfect position to flip it out, but had run too low on CO2 and was unable to do more than lift it. Soon after, Robochicken was grabbed by Tough as Nails, and was pushed around the arena for most of the remainder of the match. Tough as Nails was able to haul Robochicken into Shunt's CPZ, where the chicken suffered an axe blow from the house robot, before being towed away by Tough as Nails. It later looked like Tough as Nails would pit Robochicken, as both were very close to the pit, very near to the end of the battle. But Robochicken held on, and the battle went to a judges' decision. The decision went in favour of Tough as Nails, eliminating Robochicken from the competition, after such a promising run. Robochicken also took part in the Annihilator at the end of the series, where it was put up against recent Semi-Finalists Raging Knightmare, American representatives Flippa, Team Roaming Robots' Ripper, Ewe 2 and the reigning Annihilator champions Kan-Opener. Robochicken went in as one of the favourites, due to its experience and what it achieved in the corresponding main competition. The team removed the head in hopes that Robochicken would be able to self-right without it. However, they never got a chance to test it, as in the first round, the robot broke down almost immediately. Ripper quickly flipped Robochicken over onto its back, and with no power, Robochicken was immobilised. Ewe 2 was almost flipped out of the arena by Ripper, and was propped on the arena wall, on top of a similarly immobilised Flippa. However, eventually, Robochicken was brought over to the arena side wall, still upside down, and was counted out by the Refbot. 'Cease' was called after the count was complete, and Robochicken was eliminated from the annihilator, despite Kan-Opener then bringing Ewe 2 off the arena wall and pitting it. Results |} |} |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 6 *Losses: 5 Series Record Chicken chassis.JPG|The Series 4 Robochicken without its armour. RobochickenUnpainted.jpg|The Series 4 Robochicken before being painted. rcevoframe.jpg|Robochicken-Evo without its shell. Robochicken and Panic Attack.jpg|Robochicken (and Panic Attack) in the pits in Series 7. Trivia *In both even-numbered series it took part in (Series 4 and 6), Robochicken fought in Heat B of the main competition. *In both odd-numbered series it took part in (Series 5 and 7), Robochicken was eliminated via a Judges' decision. *Robochicken fought a seeded machine in both of its battles in Series 4, but never in any other series afterwards, even in side competitions and Robot Wars Extreme. *Robochicken was the first robot to be hit with an item from the Drop Zone in the UK series. Honours Nominations *'Most Original Entry' - Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars *'Best Newcomer' - Robot Wars: The Fourth Wars References External Links *The archived Robochicken website Category:UK Series competitors Category:Tag Team Terror Champions Category:Most Promising Newcomer Nominees Category:Most Original Entry Nominees Category:Robots from Devon Category:Robots with alternate versions Category:Robots with more Wins than Losses Category:Robots with Spiked Axes/Picks Category:Robots with Cutting Discs Category:Animal Based Robots Category:Robots to appear in Battle Cards Pack 3 Category:Victims of The Drop Zone Category:Tag Team Competitors Category:UK Heat Finalists Category:Robots undefeated in Extreme Category:Robots with Rear-hinged Flippers Category:Robots to defeat a defending champion Category:Robots which debuted in Series 4